‘Ruff told The Howard Simon Show this morning that the ownership situation does not effect his job at all. He reiterated that to the media after practice. The bench boss wants his players to focus their efforts on the ice, and can separate himself from the talk, saying, "It’s not difficult at all. We’ve gotta focus on playing, and playing better and playing better offensively. We’re in great shape as a team, we’re in great with the owner we have, and our focus if Friday night for us."’

‘“I wanted to use this scrimmage, the 30 minutes, for our video session tomorrow, trying to find just a couple more plays here or there where we can loosen up on the offensive side,” Ruff said. “We put some lines together that we’re hoping may look good offensively. We may try a different combination tomorrow.”’

‘Longtime Buffalo hockey writer Jim Kelley died Tuesday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Kelley, a professional sports news columnist whose 30-year career has focused primarily on the Buffalo Sabres and the NHL, was set to be inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame this season.’

‘It’s would be impossible to understate Tom Golisano’s role in saving the franchise and keeping it in Western New York. The Sabres are stable and on solid financial ground. Having said that, his interests aren’t long term and he’s not a hockey guy.’

‘“Reports regarding the sale of the Buffalo Sabres tend to surface from time to time. There have been several inquiries in the past few years regarding this subject. Our company policy is we do not comment on them because people make inquiries all the time. Some of these inquiries are serious, some are not, some make the media and others do not. The report that a $150 million letter of intent has been signed is simply not true.”’

‘Quinn would only call Terry Pegula “a great guy,” noting the two first met when Quinn previously worked for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Quinn spoke by phone to The Associated Press on Tuesday, after The Buffalo News cited unnamed sources in reporting that Pegula has emerged as a serious candidate to buy the Sabres.’

Pegula recently donated $88 million to start a Division-I hockey program and build new facilities at Penn State University. He is the founder and CEO of East Resources. He was ranked No. 110 on the latest Forbes 400, and his wife hails from Western New York.

‘"This isn’t in reference to Terry or anybody else, but we get inquiries on the team — a number per year — and someday one of these rumors is going to be true," Quinn said. "So far, the last four or five years it hasn’t. We’ve just adopted a policy where we don’t comment. It has nothing to do with Terry. It’s just a uniform policy."’

‘We are lucky in Buffalo to have Roswell Park Cancer Institute. We try to complement the medicine that those brilliant doctors and amazing hospital staff do every day. For our part, we just want to try to add a sense of normalcy and humanity to kids’ lives.’

‘"We got a lot of pucks to the net," said Derek Roy, one of five Sabres to get at least four shots. "We were crashing the crease and pucks were laying there and we just needed somebody to poke at it."’

‘"On an injury front, it will give us some time to catch up there," coach Lindy Ruff said. "On the team front, you saw at the end of our seven [games] in 11 [days], the energy level started to go down. Even with a few days, you get the energy back with your team. You work really hard at your system, try to clean up different part of your game. We’ve got extra time to work on a lot of things."’